Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Thursday said that amendments to the State Bank Act were ‘intolerable’.
While speaking during the meeting of the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue, the minister said that amendments to the State Bank are not complete yet. The finance minister quipped that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is Pakistan’s bank and not of some other country.
It is pertinent to mention here that the finance minister has mentioned the amendments to the State Bank Act numerous times in recent weeks. From Dar’s remarks, it is obvious that he believes that the independence given to the central bank as a result of these amendments has had a negative impact.
After assuming the charge as the finance minister last year, Dar termed the linkage between fiscal and monetary policies “imperative” for economic growth.
As part of a broader plan to give the central bank complete autonomy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had pushed amendments to the SBP Act of 1956 in January last year as a pre-condition to reviving the bailout programme.
In a brief issued in 2021, the central bank said that the amendments being proposed are in line with international best practices and also take into account the ground realities in Pakistan. It highlighted that overall, the amendments balance the provision of necessary operational and financial autonomy to the State Bank with new mechanisms for enhancing transparency and strengthening accountability.
Source: Pro Pakistani